Bush's Reading Czar Visits School

Says Laurel's Program Exemplifies How Achievement Can Be Improved

May 05, 2005|By STEVEN GOODE; Courant Staff Writer

BLOOMFIELD — During a visit to Laurel Elementary School Wednesday, G. Reid Lyon, President Bush's reading guru, said that when he speaks at the state Capitol today, he intends to use the Bloomfield school's reading program as a model of what can be done to improve achievement.

``I'm going to talk about how we can make a change, what goes into reading, why some kids have a tough time, what we can do about it and if we don't, what happens,'' he said. ``There's a tremendous gap and it shouldn't be that way.''

Lyon, chief of child development and behavior at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, was at the school to observe kindergarten and first-grade students who were working on improving their reading and comprehension skills.

The school has participated for about five years in an early reading success program that has resulted in a consistent decline in the percentage of students considered to be ``substantially deficient'' on state-mandated developmental reading tests, school officials said.

In the winter of 2001, 34 percent of first-grade students at Laurel fell into that category, compared with 6 percent in 2004. In second grade, the number decreased from 26 percent in 2001 to 10 percent in 2004.

``I'm surprised by how good it is and how much the kids are enjoying reading this early,'' Lyon said after observing Laurel kindergartners working on pronunciation and journal-writing skills. ``It's infrequent that you see this level of comprehension.''

Lyon said a key component to the success of the program is the teachers' willingness to rethink how they teach reading to youngsters, especially those who have limited exposure to literacy before entering school.

``Most teachers haven't been taught what it takes to learn to read. Reading is complicated,'' he said. ``We're teaching teachers how to teach literacy better.''

Lyon, who was also scheduled to visit Sanchez Elementary School in Hartford and Church Street School in Hamden Wednesday before speaking to legislators today about how Connecticut can teach virtually every child to read, said another reason for the Laurel program's success is that it focuses on different components of literacy, including comprehension, phonics, vocabulary and fluency.

``You have to have it all,'' Lyon said. ``You have to have clear instruction where the kids aren't guessing or trying to figure it out on their own.''

Lyon, who has been touring the country in search of reading curriculums that work, especially for disadvantaged and minority populations, said Laurel's track record of steady improvement shows that the learning gap can be reduced.

``It's not because the kids can't do it,'' he said.

School Superintendent David Title said he was so impressed with the reading improvement when he came to the district in 2002 that he implemented the curriculum at the town's other two elementary schools.